Bold move to unearth political corruption

Governor, attorney general launch effort after lawmaker abuse cases

Jimmy Vielkin, Times Union

By Jimmy Vielkind

Updated 11:28 am, Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Courtesy Kyle Hughes of NYSNYS.com.
/ Times Union

Courtesy Kyle Hughes of NYSNYS.com.
/ Times Union

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, left, Governor Andrew Cuomo, center, and William Fitzpatrick, Onondaga County district attorney take part in a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, where Governor Cuomo introduced the members of the Moreland Commission that will investigate public corruption around the state. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, left, Governor...

David Soares, Albany County district attorney, takes part in a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, where Governor Cuomo introduced Soares and other members of the Moreland Commission that will investigate public corruption around the state. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

David Soares, Albany County district attorney, takes part in a...

Mylan Denerstein, left, counsel to the Governor, and Kathleen Hogan, Warren County district attorney, take part in a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, where Governor Guomo introduced the members of the Moreland Commission that will investigate public corruption around the state. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Mylan Denerstein, left, counsel to the Governor, and Kathleen...

Governor Andrew Cuomo, background center, along with members of the Moreland Commission that will investigate public corruption, take part in a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, July 2, 2013 in Albany, NY. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Governor Andrew Cuomo, background center, along with members of...

David Soares, Albany County district attorney, takes part in a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, where Governor Cuomo introduced Soares and other members of the Moreland Commission that will investigate public corruption around the state. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Insisting it will restore public trust in state government after a session pocked with lawmakers in handcuffs, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced an investigatory panel that will have "broad and sweeping" jurisdiction to investigate officials at all levels of government.

In an executive order, Cuomo charged Schneiderman's office with tackling corruption as a matter of "public safety and public justice," the attorney general said. Both Cuomo and Schneiderman say this will give the new panel broad power to subpoena records and compel testimony from officials at various state agencies, as well as sitting legislators. Schneiderman, in turn, designated the panelists as deputy attorneys general.

"This is a powerful signal, and I want to send a signal to two audiences," Cuomo said. "One are the elected officials in the state of New York — we're going to raise the bar on public integrity, public trust. And second is the people of the state. I want to say, 'Look, we have the best people in the business watching.'"

While the panel is centered on the state Board of Elections, which oversees campaign spending, Schneiderman said it is "fully empowered" with a "broad mandate" to "investigate anything to do with public corruption and the enforcement of the laws related to public corruption."

The panel will refer any findings for prosecution by either Schneiderman's office or a local district attorney, the officials said, and is also charged with recommending changes to state law. It is slated to issue a preliminary report by year's end.

Change in state law is sorely needed, Schneiderman said, because New York's campaign laws are currently a "national embarrassment" and "a welcome wagon for pay-to-play schemes."

Cuomo turned to the commission after the Legislature adjourned last month without enacting any legal changes in response to the indictment of three sitting lawmakers and the resignation of two others in various scandals.

Legislators were not present for the announcement at the Capitol or other repeat events in Binghamton and on Long Island.

Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos warned that the commission's work could become a "witch hunt" against sitting legislators, and said he hoped it would also look at Cuomo. Already, some whispered about his connections to the panel.

The new panel's executive director, Regina Calcaterra, is fresh off an appointment by Cuomo as director of a Moreland Commission that investigated the Long Island Power Authority. Rice also served on that panel. Two of the big-name Republicans on the panel, Onondaga County Executive Joannie Mahoney and Pat Barrett, assisted Cuomo during his gubernatorial campaign. Barrett has given nearly $70,000 to Cuomo's electoral efforts in recent years; Fitzpatrick, a Republican, said he has also donated, but a state disclosure database did not list the contribution.

A Skelos spokesman declined to comment. Assembly Republican Leader Brian Kolb said he was frustrated the commission had a defined beginning and end, and suggested broader legislative reforms — like revoking the pensions of convicted lawmakers — are needed. A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose Democratic colleagues dominate that chamber, noted in a statement that it had passed a campaign finance reform bill while the Senate did not. A series of other groups called on the commission to investigate improprieties they've long lamented.

Like former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo did in 1987, the current executive order blunts separation-of-powers questions about an executive commission investigating legislators by empowering the attorney general.

Cuomo has so far been reluctant to do so, and his aides have argued that a standing referral for public corruption cases — that Schneiderman has sought — is "illegal." The aides say Schneiderman is not getting blanket authority because State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico, a Cuomo appointee, has to sign off "as appropriate" before the attorney general brings a criminal case.

Cuomo and Schneiderman are not close political allies, but the times call for "dramatic action," the governor said.